far too sophisticated for this head.

True, "Messiah Of Evil" (1973) is a gravely neglected, underrated, underappreciated & mostly overlooked classic ghost story. Yes! Ghost story! Everyone in the town is dead.
But, here's the kicker. Just 2 years earlier, the better known cult classic "Let's Scare Jessica To Death" premiered in 1971. But, it was the very same movie, just a smaller cast & different surroundings. So, I can't help but think, "Is "Messiah Of Evil" a sequel, a remake, or simply an imitation of "Let's Scare Jessica To Death"? Because the lead character from both have done time in mental institutions, and are narrating their approaching demise, I'd have to eliminate sequel from the choices. So, I'm leaning more toward "Messiah" being an imitation of "Jessica" than a remake. Because, although a remake is also often referred to as a reworking, a reworking would be more like Rob Zombie's "Halloween" compared for "John Carpenter's Halloween". Although they are basically the same premise, they are two completely different stories. The original 1978 is a true horror masterpiece, while the 2007 is more of a celluloid abortion or trainwreck!
So, "Messiah" would actually be considered an imitation. And, although it is said that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", THAT'S NOT ALWAYS NECESSARILY TRUE! It most certainly is in this case.
But, at the end of the day, YES! 1973's "Messiah Of Evil" DOES deserve to be restored, remastered, and a HD DVD/BluRay release! It has some good scares that even the new horror movies are seriously lacking.
But, whatever you decide it is, just give "Messiah Of Evil" A FAIR CHANCE when you watch it!

It's tricky to make an enigmatic horror film like this work, but "Messiah of Evil" manages to walk that tricky tightrope pretty consistently. It's certainly not without its faults (opening scene doesn't really make any sense with the rest of the movie, and the ending seems a bit dashed together), but these weaknesses are more than made up for by the spooky mood shots of the deserted town of "Point Dune", the grocery story sequence, the psychedelic visuals of the house where a lot of the action takes place, and fairly strong performances all around. "Carnival of Souls" gave me a similar feeling of being in a nightmarish world with its own rules that I was somehow trespassing on; oh, how horrible, the viewer wonders, will my punishment be? Heh, heh; every freaky film fan loves THAT stuff.

There were a few really weak parts (I decided to let them stay... I don't know why)(Scary dude offers a ride... Hey why not)(etc etc) but the overall construction is solid and the characters have nice contrast between them. The art direction is very interesting too. I wonder why exactly did it bomb when it was released?
I wish Anitra Ford (yes that's the correct spelling) stayed on screen a bit more.

The surroundings, the art works, the hairstyles and clothes, and the general craft of the film are redolent with psychedelia. That made it very appealing to me. As others have said, it also manages to be creepy by suggesting the violence of the zombie cannibals and not by lots of gore. I think horror directors could learn a lot from this movie.

I have watched this one a few times now and it is so well done, despite the budget and quality and... 1973. Very enjoyable.

This is a great bad film. What else can I say?

Why had I never heard of this movie before? It's just a pleasure. Not perfect by any means but a lovely surprise. Thse women are incredible. The art is amazing. Would love some scene props from this movie

Yeah, very good movie! As someone has already said, it really works as a horror movie.

I had never even heard of this film even though I love sci-fi and horror.
WOW !! I found this way more scarey than modern gore-fests, and as is often true what you don't see is more frightening as your own mind conjures up what scares you the most.
All in all brilliant defo 5 stars from me.

Slow start, but not a bad cannibal film. The gore is at a minimum. Featuring Elisha Cook, Jr. and Joy Bang (a Warhol alumnus). the violence is usually off screen, but still creepy. Banksy must have seen this film, because the paintings featured have a strong resemblance to Banksy's work. Great "graffiti" art work, I wonder who did the paintings in this film?

One of my favorite horrors flix of all time! I has all the hallmarks of a great horror movie.
Thru the whole movie you're saying WTF.. Okay I was saying it. If anyone says this was predictable they're lying. Marriana Hill is, as someone mentioned. absolutely Gorgeous. Anitra Ford, yes that is the correct sp of first name, is beautiful too! Joy Bang, (yes that's right) is a hot little alcoholic slut... if that appeals to you. The location was unreal, Marrianna's character is trying to find her father, who is an artist and lived in the house where a lot of the movie takes place. I'd really love to hear the story behind that! The whole house, which is big, has artwork on all the walls, lending a very surrealistic atmosphere. The crazy albino, really creeped me out, great acting on his behalf.
Thru the whole movie, you really never know what's going on, and what will happen next.Just after the hour mark, the male co-star, is back in town, being persued by the zombie. He runs into a young woman, who'd bet was in real life a local who got a chance to have a tiny part in a movie. I thought here acting was brilliant. She had a quite long dialogue, and it was done in one take, but it seemed great to me anyway. If you are into horror, this flick is great!

Much like "Night of the Living Dead" you might question how this gem entered into the Public Domain. Although some will complain about the movies slow start, I can say the same about many Stephen King and John Carpenter films. In many ways this film has the feel of something Stephen King, John Carpenter, and Alfred Hitchcock might have collaborated on.
The cast looks great and it has that sense where you see the gore but you do not really see it (similar to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre). A couple of my favorite scenes (that happen almost one after the other) is watching the Albino eat a live mouse, then watching the village raid the Grocery store and start eating raw meat right of the cooler. You can almost see the gore (though none exists) in these scenes and the one that follows of them eating a young woman.
There is some nudity in the original version; however, I cannot recall seeing any in this version (but then again I might be immune to it by now considering the ton of films out there that have nudity in them.)
A real find for those who like movies similar to:
Night of the Living Dead, The Fog, Prince of Darkness, or Storm of the Century.

This movie is strange and scary, and you always anticipate a barrage of sex at anytime which that never happens, but it seems like it would I guess because now a days it always does, but anyhow I had to turn it off last night before the half time because I got scared and was worried about dead people getting me in my apartment. But I just returned to where I left off last night its afternoon now and I could have watched it all last night because it wasn't that scary anymore. No naked people just dead people like Zombies trying to get live flesh to eat. This movie is a good accounting of The early 70's fashion and attitude. "Sit on It", and 'Get in your pants' came from there.

This movie really works for me. Not great, mediocre acting, choppy editing, but not a slasher movie, and doesn't rely on gore. Works more on the head, and I like it.

messiah of evil aka;dead people is a creepy underated movie about creepy dead people who eat the living,yes sort of zombies.theres a creepy albino dude who eats rats.and lots of nightmare scenes,and good performances by royal dano and elisha cook jr.when it was released it bombed at the box office.but i think its a very weird creepy and surreal movie that may induce nightmares.

It's worth it just to revisit the 70's...you just have to see a man with a bad haircut running for his life down Main street at night, in a white polyester leisure suit. But, it really was a very watchable movie, with an unusual premise.

Can't say as I completely disagree with mandrakes but have to add two points #1 Marianna Hill is gorgeous and worth watching and #2 the ending is exceptional.

As the previous reviewer said, this is an incredibly slow film by contemporary standards. If you're looking for action look elsewhere. But it is exactly what it is supposed to be. It permeates with a slow, overwhelming dread and strangeness. I would almost say that it is existential horror because the curse in the film plagues the mind as well as the body, creating a situation where you don't know if it's actually happening or if it's just an inherited madness.

Well that pretty much says it all.